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Thursday, May 8, 2014

May 8th, 2014 Garden Update (Cucmbers, Squash & Grapes)

Tomorrow and Saturday will be rainy days so I made appoint to plant my summer vegetables. As of now, I can directly sow and transplant all varieties of fruits and vegetables, considering it is the first week of May.

I am not expecting any late Frosts, so today I transplanted 160 zucchini and yellow squash, and directly sowed 400 cucumber seeds, 200+ butternut squash seed, 20 pumpkin, and 20 cushaw. In the photos below I have one row of half pumpkin and half cushaws, two rows of butternut squash and one extended row of cucumbers (probably over 40 ft).

10 rows of potatoes/40+ft row of cucumbers

1 row of cushaw/pumpkin & 2 rows of butternut squash

cucumbers

Another little job we did today was hoe/till between the rows of potatoes. As I mentioned I planted 125 lbs of potatoes, a total of 10 rows. And, the lettuce, kale, spinach, and peas are doing beautifully as you can see in the photos below. Notice the plants are crowded in wide rows, this is to discourage weeds growing in and around the greens. Also I have wide walking rows in order to till between them, this is to aerate the soil.

In the near future I will be transplanting pepper, tomato, and melon plants. Below I have posted additional photos of plants growing in my gardens.

Grape pods from my plants

Strawberries

Purple Iris

Toad

My partner and I have been conscious of the Toads in our garden. Today we counted five Toads hanging around that we transported to the woods. Luckily we are aware of these creatures in an effort to avoid tilling them. I know it must seem I am destructing their habitats but I keep aware of them as well as Spiders and other things that I want to protect. Keep this in mind when you're working in your garden as well.